Bridge for stringed musical instruments



Sept. 22, 1964 F IG. l.

R. DITZEL ETAL BRIDGE FOR STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Filed Dec. 21, 1962 "nifl INVENTORS RUSSELL DITZEL EDWARD ISING DON PASTORE United States Patent O 3,149,526 BRIDGE FOR STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Russell Ditzel, 111 Clark Ave., Jersey City, NJ.; and Edward G. Ising, 286 Mountain Road; and Don Pastore,

507 32nd St., both of Union City, NJ.

Filed Dec. 21, 1962, Ser. No. 246,575 Claims. (Cl. 84-298) The present invention relates to a bridge for stringed musical instruments, in general, and to such stringed musical instruments, as for example guitars, mandolins, Y ukuleles, and the like, in particular.

- Bridges for stringed musical instruments, which permit the adjustment of the strings of such an instrument very accurately, have been proposed before. It has been found, however, that not only is such adjustment rather diicult in view of the fact that the strings rest on string seats which require longitudinal adjustment, but the string seats change the tuning of the strings, even upon slight axial movement of the string seats.

These instruments, if fretted, are usually designed, so that the twelfth fret is midway between the bridge and the nut, and the difference in pitch of the string when this fret is pressed and when it is released should be an octave, so that in use an independent adjustment of the position of the seat is desirable for each string.

It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide a bridge for stringed musical instruments, which includes a member retaining each of the string seats in their adjusted positions.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a bridge for stringed musical instruments, wherein a rider member is disposed between each pair of adjacent string seats, which rider member secures each of theadjacent string seats in its adjusted position.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent in the following detailed description, the present invention will be clearly understood in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a stringed musical instrument including a freted key board and equipped with a bridge designed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a section along the lines 2 2 of FIG. l, yet shown at an enlarged scale;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to that of FIG. 2, disclosing another embodiment of the string seats;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the bridge shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a section along the lines 5 5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a perspective front view of a rider member designed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a front elevation of the rest member designed to control the vertical adjustment of the head section of the bridge;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary elevation of the head section receiving the string seats indicating the position of the latter in a raised and in a lowered position, respectively, of the rider member;

FIG. 9 is a front elevation of another embodiment of the string seat; and

FIG. 10 is also a front elevation of a string seat, disclosing still another embodiment thereof.

Referring now to the drawing, and in particular to FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, a guitar or similar instrument, as shown in FIG. 1, comprises in conventional manner a body 1, a neck 2 projecting from the body 1, a plug head 3, which is carried by the neck 2, a nut 4 at the outer end portion of the neck 2, a bridge 5 mounted on the body 1 and strings 6 which are strung between the bridge 5 and 3,149,526 Patented Sept. 22., 1964 ICC the nut 4. Furthermore, a tail piece 7 is mounted at one end of the body 1 and adapted to anchor the strings 6. Posts 8 are arranged in conventional manner on the plug head 3, which posts can be operated by suitable keys 9 which are also conventional in this field.

Referring now again to the drawing, it will be readily seen that the top 10 of the body 1 is preferably slightly rounded and the bridge 5 is mounted on the top 10 of the body 1 appreciably spaced apart from the tail piece 7. The neck 2 projects from the body 1 and carries at its upper side, likewise in conventional manner, a plurality of frets 11. It is well known that variations or adjustments are made at the bridge 5, in order to perform a desired string adjustment.

The bridge 5 is quite clearly disclosed in FIGS. 2 and 4 of the drawings. The bridge 5 comprises substantially two main sections, namely a base section 12 and an arch or head section 13. Both the base section, as well as the head section, are longitudinal members disposed crosswise on the body 1 of the guitar, as particularly clearly shown in FIG. l of the drawing.

The top face of the head section 13 is equipped with a plurality of recesses 14 disposed crosswise to the longitudinal direction of the head section 13 and, thus, extending substantially parallel to or in the direction of the strings 6. The recesses 14 are adapted to receive string seats 15. As shown in the embodiment of the string seats 15, disclosed in FIG. 2, the string seats 15 comprise a bottom 16 and a top or string rest 17 carried by the bottom 16, the string rest 17 being equipped with a notch 1S for the purpose of holding a corresponding string 6 in its proper position.

The string seat 15 is an elongated member and its bottom has a dove-tailed cross-section (FIG. 2) to be received in complementary dove-tail shaped recesses 14, or the bottom 16 of the string seat 15 is of rectangular cross-section, while the string rest 17' is equipped likewise with a notch 18' (FIG. 3). In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the recesses 14' are disposed in a similar manner in the arc or head section 13.

It has been experienced that the string seats 15 and 15', respectively, could move longitudinally in the recesses 14 and 14', respectively, whereby the tuned quality of the strings 6 is impaired, and different eXped-ients have been proposed before to avoid such longitudinal movements, which expedients, however, are cumbersome and not economical in their manufacture.

In accordance with the present invention, riders 19 of U-shape are arranged and disposed between each pair of adjacent string seats 15 and 15', respectively, which riders 19 are designed to retain the string seats 15 and 15', respectively, in their adjusted positions.

The riders 19 have a base member 20 and leg members 21 and the oppositely disposed end faces 29 of the rider 19 are tapered downwardly towards the lower ends of the leg members 21. The free end portions of the leg members 21 terminate in an inwardly inclined face 22, which is adapted to retain the rider 19 on the head section 13 and 13', respectively, in its lowermost position, since the faces 22 engage the outer faces of the head section 13 and 13', respectively. In order to provide an easier grip for lifting of the riders 19, it is of advantage to provide a groove 23 on the opposite outer faces of the base 20 of the riders 19, so that the latter can be lifted into an upper, inoperative position and lowered into a lower operative position, respectively.

Referring now to FIG. 8 of the drawing, the rider 19 is shown in a slightly lifted position on the right hand side of said figure, in which position the string seats 15 are still slightly loosely disposed in the corresponding recesses 14. Upon lowering the riders 19, due to the tapered formation or t e riders 19, the string seats 15, the upper .ai inner edges of which abut against the tapered faces 29 of the rider 19 as shown on the right hand side of FIG. 8, are slightly turned outwardly by the tapered faces 29 of the rider 19 into a position, shown somewhat exaggerated for a better demonstration, in the left hand side of FIG. 8. It is Clearly shown that the string seats 15 are clamped into a slightly inclined position and cannot be moved now longitudinally in the recesses 14 until such time as the riders 19 are lifted and get into inoperative position.

The adjustment means for the head section 13 cornprises a post 24 projecting upwardly from the base section 12, which post 24 extends through a guide opening Z5 in the head section 13. A rest 26 is screw-threaded on the post 24 and forms a support, 0n which the end portion of the head section 13 rests. The rest 26 is disposed on each end of the bridge just permitting an adjustment at each end independently from the adjustment on the other end of the bridge, by merely rotating the rest 26 on the post 24.

As clearly shown in FIGS. 9 and l0 of the drawings, the string seats 15 and 15', respectively, can be equipped with downwardly extending projections to function as limiting or abutment means in the longitudinal movement of the string seats 15 and 15', respectively. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, a downward projection 27 is provided integrally at one end of the string seat 15, while the other end thereof receives a pin or bolt 2S In order to remove the string seat 15, having the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, it is necessary to lift the bolt and the removal is then possible only in one direction, namely in the direction of the integral projection 27.

In FIG. l0, a similar embodiment is shown, yet both ends of the string seat 15 are equipped with pins or bolts 28', which can be lowered from the string seat 15. In order to remove the string seat 15 from the recesses 14 of the head section 13, it is required that at least one of the bolts 2.8 is lifted, whereupon the string seat 15 can easily slide out from the corresponding recess 14.

While we have disclosed several embodiments of the present invention, it is to be understood that these embodiments are given by example only and not in a limiting sense, the scope of the present invention being determined by the objects and the claims.

We claim:

1. A bridge for stringed musical instruments having a plurality of strings comprising a base section resting on said instrument,

a head section supported by and adjustable relative to said base section,

a string seat coordinated to each of said strings and mounted on said head section for an adjusting movement in the direction of said string and a tilting movement in a direction crosswise to said strings, and

a rider of substantially U-shape mounted on said head section between each pair of adjacent string seats, to engage said string seats laterally and retain them in their adjusted tilted positions.

2. The bridge, as set forth in claim l, wherein said rider comprises a base and two legs perpendicularly extending from said base, and

the end faces of said rider are tapered down from said base toward the lower end of each of said legs.

3. The bridge, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the inner face of each of said legs at its free end is inclined inwardly towards the opposite leg, in order to retain said rider in its lowermost operative position.

4. The bridge, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the end faces of said base of said rider have a longitudinal groove extending substantially in the direction of said strings, in order to provide gripping means for lifting said rider from its lower operative position into a lifted inoperative position.

5. The bridge, as set forth in claim 2, wherein said legs of said rider have their oppositely disposed faces inclined toward each other to operate as abutments against a lifting movement of said rider.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,491,788 Windowson Dec. 20, 1949 

1. A BRIDGE FOR STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS HAVING A PLURALITY OF STRINGS COMPRISING A BASE SECTION RESTING ON SAID INSTRUMENT, A HEAD SECTION SUPPORTED BY AND ADJUSTABLE RELATIVE TO SAID BASE SECTION, A STRING SEAT COORDINATED TO EACH OF SAID STRINGS AND MOUNTED ON SAID HEAD SECTION FOR AN ADJUSTING MOVEMENT IN THE DIRECTION OF SAID STRING AND A TILTING MOVEMENT IN A DIRECTION CROSSWISE TO SAID STRINGS, AND A RIDER OF SUBSTANTIALLY U-SHAPE MOUNTED ON SAID HEAD SECTION BETWEEN EACH PAIR OF ADJACENT STRING SEATS, TO ENGAGE SAID STRING SEATS LATERALLY AND RETAIN THEM IN THEIR ADJUSTED TILTED POSITIONS. 